What are songs about the music industry that you like?

Have a Cigar, Pink Floyd.

Life's Been Good to Me So Far, Joe Walsh.

Lito Shuffle, Boz Scags.

Jukebox Hero, Foreigner.

Piano Man, Billy Joel.

(Yes, I am old.)

Have a Cigar was the first song I thought of.
"Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?"
- Primus' rendition is also awesome. https://youtu.be/aEf0SpAEnIc?si=PVfnyKpxFRuslQXo
- I love that some music industry asshole actually asked them that once, and the quote made it into the song.
- A fun industry fact: Have A Cigar was sung by Roy Harper, as he happened to be in the studio and the members of Floyd thought he could be a good fit. Roy Harper is perhaps more known in the mainstream through the Zeppelin song Hats Off to (Roy) Harper than through his own recordings, though he's still alive and active.
  
  Harper didn't feel like he was appropriately compensated for his work on Have a Cigar, which is ironic considering the overall thematic.

Reel Big Fish - Sell Out

Tool - Hooker With A Penis

Dinosaurs Will Die - NOFX

From most favorite, descending:

Bomb the Music Industry! - Side Projects are Never Successful (punk)
Backini - Radio (hip-hop)
They Might Be Giants - Hey Mr. DJ I Thought You Said We Had a Deal (alt-pop)
Reel Big Fish - Sell Out (ska)
MC Lars - Download This Song (cross-genre)
Billy Joel - The Entertainer (pop)
Barr - The Song is the Single (rock)
They Might Be Giants - Working Undercover for the Man (alt-pop)
Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs (pop)
David Rovics - The Pirate Radio Song (acoustic punk)

Edited to provide links and genres.

MC Lars - Download This Song (cross-genre)

You've reminded me of my answer to this question:

Weird Al - Don't Download This Song
- I thought about it, but it doesn't rise to "favorite" for me

EMI, Sex Pistols

Unlimited supply!

Don McLean - American Pie

Is it about the history of rock'n'roll, or something else?
- I have no idea WTF I just read. All I know is that I want to throw an onion at you now.

Against Me - Unprotected Sex with Multiple Partners

Complete Control by The Clash

Interstellar555, the music video movie that accompanies Daft Punk's Discovery album

Dinosaurs will die - NOFX

So many songs by Muse which I find most amusing because they have an anti-corporate message but are made under a giant corporate label.

Specifically what comes to mind when it comes to the music industry itself are Showbiz and Uprising.

Cold - Kill the Music Industry

Spotify Link

I think the most obvious album to point out which is about many things (including the abuse of the music industry) is To Pimp a Butterfly. I'm surprised I haven't seen it here yet. Even the title is very on-the-nose – the "pimp" in reference is both the music industry and (more frequently) the US government/social structures, and the "butterfly" is a fledgling Kendrick/black rappers/black Americans in general (context depending on the exact song). It's meant to be listened in exact order. Many people say it's overrated but I really disagree. It's an amazing narrative and powerful symbolism with good music.

I'd argue that Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb belongs here: AFAIK it's about a band manager injecting the strung out musician with drugs, so he can get up and perform the show that night.

Porcupine Tree - The Sound of Muzak has one of my favorite lines ever in any song: “Music of rebellion makes you wanna rage, but it’s made by millionaires who are nearly twice your age.”

But glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity...

Death on Two Legs - Queen

Comfort Eagle by Cake

Nice!

There's also this one: rock and roll lifestyle

To some extent, Sad songs and waltzes.

And I'll be honest I have no idea what this song is about, so who knows: wheels

Pop 101 by Marianas Trench. Very funny and also true.

lost in hollywood by system of acdown

Cover of the rolling stone

KoRn - Y'all Want a Single

Maggie's Farm by Bob Dylan

Radio Friendly Unit Shifter by Nirvana

All the Best by R.E.M.

Intro by The Prodigy (not a song, technically, but a clear statement of intent from Liam Howlett)

Hmm songmeanings.com has following opinion about the nirvana song:

Kurt said it himself that this song has no meaning and that it's a bunch of random poetry lines thrown together to a kick ass motherfucking melody. This is one of my favorite Nirvana songs.
- Yeah, I'm going mainly by the ironic title to be honest - it always feels to me like Cobain's snarky response to studio pressure to make another Nevermind. I've not looked into closely though, I have to admit.

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This - Eurythmics

Mr. Recordman by Ugly Kid Joe

Drive By Truckers - Gravity's Gone

Elton John someone saved my life tonight song

Gillian Welch - Everything is Free

Oh and somewhat tangential but Hayes Carll I Got a Gig song - "playing for my dinner six nights a week, hurricanes, Easter, and New Years Eve, I got a gig baby!"

There's a song about how it feels when you get your royalty check. I think that's what it's about... Cannibal Corpse - Meat Hook Sodomy.

Good songwriters can do some good stuff when they are writing what they know. Bad singwriters can crawl up their own assholes, though. Some good Americana Alt-Country ones:

Mercury in Retrograde - Sturgill Simpson takes on the realities of "success". Really the whole Sound and Fury album, though; the whole thing is just him raging at the labels and expectations people put on him as "the next Waylon Jennings."

Bible on the Dash: Life for work-a-day touring musicians. Corb Lund and Hayes Carll actually come up with something useful about a hotel Bible.

Robert Earl Keen:

My Home Ain't in the Hall of Fame. Checking out of the Nashville rat race.

What I Really Mean: Wistful realities of road life for someone at a different life phase than the one above.

The Road Goes On & On: a vicious diss track at Toby Keith's expense. REK is like the chill Democrat New-Balance Suburban Dad of brilliant Americana singer-songwriters, so he probably wouldn't speak ill of the dead, but I will. Fuck Toby Keith.

DJ Shadow Why Hip-Hop Sucks In '96

Show Business - A Tribe Called Quest

Barracuda by Heart

You can’t really get any more outrageous than Death to all but Metal

Icon for hire - now you know

Specifically about the girls perspective

I think Hank Williams III with the Grand Ole Opry Ain't so Grand deserves a shout-out. Basically a song about how the institution that chewed up and then expelled his grandfather can eat shit.

Life's Been Good - Joe Walsh

Welcome to the Machine by Pink Floyd is right up there.

There's a good Russian song "The main problem of music in Russia" by Zakhar May
Too Long To Learn Russian: The main problem of music in Russia is that you're listening shit!

Guns n Roses - Get in the Ring

Stone Temple Pilots - Adhesive

Disorder and Disarray by Rancid. There are lots of great examples here, and I think this one fits.

Hiroshima by Ben Folds

Radio is a sound salvation, Radio is cleaning up the nation

Gillian Welsh - Everything is Free.

Great song about the difficulties of making a living off music now that everything is available for nothing. Father John Misty recorded a version when he was invited to the Spotify Sessions, which was a nice little fuck you to the people inviting him.

No love for Motorhead?

(We Are) The Roadcrew

Killpop by Slipknot, that song is amazing. It's very indirect, though, if I didn't read an interview that it's about the music industry, I wouldn't have guessed it.

Teya & Salena represented Austria in Eurovision last year with "Who the Hell is Edgar?", it was written from the perspective of wanting to be taken seriously in the industry, veiled through a fun song about being possessed by the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe, though the bridge gets quite blatant and singles out Spotify for not paying its artists properly. It was one of the favourites in the Eurovision community last year and I think it would've done better had the Finland vs. Sweden rivalry not happened.

I can't seem to figure out how to edit my comment on kbin. I thought of one newer than Rush fom a band I've come to enjoy highly and hasn't been posted yet:

LCD Soundsystem - You Wanted A Hit